In the assembly of appliances having sheathed electric heating elements of usual manufacture, it is necessary to provide mounting, support, or hinge brackets which are attached to the applicance housing and which are commonly apertured to receive therethrough a portion of the elongated sheathed heating element or elements.
In an effort to provide support for, prevent relative axial movement between, and provide good electrical contact with the bracket and the sheath for grounding or like purposes, the bracket has heretofore been affixed to the heating element as by brazing, welding, crimping, or the like. Illustrative of such prior art assemblies are the U.S. Patents to Thomas, No. 2,670,529, Bremer No. 2,799,767, Yartz No. 3,899,658 and Pease No. 3,930,140.
Further, as the primary bracket is frequently formed from stainless steel for, flexibility, durability, ease of cleaning, and general eye appeal, it has hitherto been necessary to fabricate a multi-part connection between the bracket and heating element in order to effect the desired metal joining technique to be employed, as welding, crimping, etc. Such fabrication inherently introduces cost and handling complexity into the assembly, as when a suitable element-connectable steel plate must be first secured to the stainless steel bracket as by individual rivets prior to the actual subsequent connection to the heating element portion.